Office of the Vice President for Research

End of the Project

Once funding for a project ends, the principal investigator (PI) is required to deliver
any final technical reports that may be required by the sponsor. You are not required
to supply this report to the Office of Research Services (ORS), but a copy for the
files is appreciated.

The fiscal closeout of the award will be made by the Office of Research Accounting, formerly the Office of Sponsored Accounting and Reporting (SPAR). A PI will receive
a preliminary notification of expenditures from OAR. The PI should review the preliminary
document to ensure accurate reporting of project expenses. OAR has created a closeout checklist for your convenience.

Research Outcomes

Texas Tech has policies and procedures in place to manage the results and knowledge
generated by research.

All equipment and supplies purchased with project funds are the property of Texas
Tech. All data, computer programs, culture collections, etc. produced during the project
belong to Texas Tech.

Data Rights

Original data produced by the research project are owned by the university. This includes
any information recorded in any form by the researcher or anyone working on the project,
technical data, software code, flow charts, laboratory books, DNA sequences, viruses,
cell lines, etc. The PI, along with the university, is responsible for the retention
and appropriate dissemination of the data. The project sponsor also may have an impact
on what is done with the data.

While the university owns the data, the PI has the right to publish the data and is
encouraged to do so by the university. The PI is responsible for knowing if the funding
agreement with the sponsor has any limits on or special requirements for publication.
If patent protection is sought, this could result in a slight delay in publication.

Intellectual Property

All federal contracts and all National Institutes of Health grants require a discoveries
and inventions report at the end of the project period, regardless of whether any
discovery has been disclosed or an invention filed. The report must be submitted on
behalf of Texas Tech University. ORS will assist with completing the report and will
submit required forms. Please contact Amy Cook at amy.cook@ttu.edu for assistance.

Intellectual property is intangible property such as ideas, expressions, formulas,
or any other creation of the mind. Intellectual property, like tangible real or personal
property, may be bought, sold, or leased.

All patents and some copyrighted material resulting from research conducted by faculty,
staff and students, belongs to the university. While the Texas Tech University System
has an ownership interest in intellectual property, the individual can profit according
to a schedule of royalty payments established by Texas Tech Operating Policy 74.04.

Commercialization

It is advised that a researcher meet with ORC several months prior to public disclosure
in a journal article or conference presentation to prevent loss of potential patent
rights.

ORC has developed a webpage for inventors to help faculty understand the commercialization process. It is required that you
contact the Office of Research Services (Amy Cook) before you communicate with ORC.